Well, I sold some old games back to GameStop and got a sweet deal on a new XBox. I'm holding off on the other XBox-related items on my wishlist in case I receive some for Christmas, so for now, I've got one controller and the game bundle it came with (NCAA 2005 football and TopSpin (tennis)).
I realize it's a bit late in the game for reviews, but, as someone new to the XBox, I thought I'd take a few minutes and relate my first impressions of the hardware (especially in comparison to PS2 and GameCube):
The console itself:
It's enormous and heavy! It's as wide as the PS2 (PS2 in flat position), almost as tall as the GameCube, and much deeper than either of them. It also weights almost as much as both of them combined.
The front connections are pretty nice, rivaling the GameCube. The lack of memory card connectors helps with cleanness. The mess that the PS2 becomes in the front is ridiculous with un/plugging multitaps, memory cards, etc.
The back is very clean. A standard, non-polarized AC power cord connection, a single A/V connection, and an ethernet port is all there is. Both the PS2 and GameCube are pretty messy in the back. The GameCube attempts to “cheat“ it's size by moving its transformer to the middle of the cable, which is very inconvenient. I suspect it will get more messy when I get the HD connector.
The controller (the “S” controller):
The controller worried me the most. I had only played with the ridiculous huge controllers that used to ship with the console. I was pleasantly surprised. They seem to have taken their cue from GameCube on the size and general shape of the controller, which makes it pretty pleasing to hold (for me). The joysticks/D-pad/button placement is also the same as GC, which I like much more than the PS-style.
The button layout is similar to the PS, organized in a cross. My preference there is mixed, depending on the game. The triggers are strikingly similar to the DreamCast, as well as the expansion slots, although there is no “hole” for an in-controller LCD screen, which I felt never really worked out on the DC. I like the idea of the headset connecting to the controller rather than the console on the PS, which really sucked.
In addition, the buttons are pressure-sensitive (at least the main ones), which was missing from the GC. It has some extra buttons like the “black/white” buttons and the “back/start” buttons, that seem to come in pretty handy for adding those extra in-game features without adding alot of confusion for button usage. I'll have to see how they are utilized in other games.
Another improvement over the GC is that the right joystick is the same as the left one, not a little crippled nub. They are also both concave on the top, which I like more, especially when attempting to execute the awkward “push the joystick“ movement, (which is missing from the GC).
I also like that cord extension connections are built-in to the cord rather than use the larger console connection.
It's pretty hard to beat the overall comfort of the GC controller, but the things the XBox adds and improves upon seem to make it superior. It's pretty easy to beat the socks off of the PS controller.
P.S. XBox live support is great. They very quickly determined that the uPnP support on my router was keeping me from connecting. Disabling it did the trick. I'll have to see if that was causing problems for some of my PS2 games.